


Finding Patterns

by ghostchibi



Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout: New Vegas
Genre: M/M, Relationship Issues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-14
Updated: 2012-09-14
Packaged: 2017-11-14 06:07:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 873
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/512137
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ghostchibi/pseuds/ghostchibi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ghost listens to an orchestral piece after an argument, and laughs at how it's like his relationship issues. An epiphany occurs.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Finding Patterns

**Author's Note:**

> Another one-shot written from a recent incident in my life.

There were raised voices and lots of objects flying through the air, and that's when Ghost had snapped.

"Why are you doing this, why do you have to be so indecisive and paranoid and sit here driving a wall between us? Why can't you just let me love you?"

The elevator doors open, close, and open again, the double doors open, and the fresh air of the Strip hits Ghost. He's out of the Lucky 38 in an instant, out of the Strip, out of Freeside, all the way to the New Vegas Medical Clinic before he realizes how far he's gone.

Dr. Usanagi looks surprised when she sees him wander in at 3 in the morning, but she doesn't question him and goes back to writing on her clipboard. He just falls onto one of the waiting room couches and sends out a little cloud of dust. There's a large box sitting on the front desk, and Ghost wonders absent-mindedly what could possibly be in a box that big that the little clinic needed.

"It's full of holotapes. Since the Followers at the Old Mormon Fort are busy with a huge influx of people, they dropped these off here for me to sort through what's useful and what's not," she says without looking up, and Ghost jumps a little. Dr. Usanagi has always been perceptive, and Ghost suspects that it's a requirement for becoming a Follower as all of them seem to have super-perception skills.

"I can help," Ghost offers, and the doctor gratefully accepts.

He's handed a pile of holodisks, told to listen to them all the way through, and mark on a list which ones are useful and what they're about. He streams each holodisk through his Pip-Boy, and tries not to nod off. There are mostly instructional holodisks, one that's nothing but loud noises and crashes and screams (Ghost shudders as he recognizes the tell-tale boom at the beginning, and is glad that the recording ends quickly), and some music recordings.

There's one music recording that is quite long, and Ghost stares blankly at the wall as he listens. It starts off softly, violin and the twinkling sound of what sounds like bells.

What had he done that had made Arcade so angry? Arcade had given him permission to go, and he'd done it only because Arcade said he could. And when he came back, Arcade demanded to know where Ghost had gone and what he had done that night.

He would have told the truth, but Arcade looked ready to punch him or yell and it would have been a stupid-ass thing to fight over, so he lied.

Bad idea.

Yes, Ghost knew he shouldn't have lied. But when someone gives you permission, then demands to know if you actually took advantage of said permission to do what was explicitly allowed while in an agitated state, there isn't much else to do if a fight is to be avoided. He could apologize later to Arcade, tell him the truth and explain why he lied, and maybe fix the issues that caused him to lie to begin with. It wasn't supposed to devolve into screaming and throwing objects and hurling verbal abuse at each other.

The music jumps in volume without warning, and Ghost jolts in surprise.

When did these problems start up, anyway?

 _It was so sudden_ , Ghost thought, _one day it was fine, the next day there were problems._

The melody begins, smooth swells that increase in volume steadily.

Their argument had quickly escalated into much worse.

The same melody repeats, this time with a variation. The music reaches up, before falling back down and playing another variation of the melody.

It was the same as always; no matter what they fought about, it ended the same way. Disagreement that skipped directly into full-blown shouting matches for no good reason at all.

Ghost laughs to himself about how much he's imagining the music to fit his relationship issues.

"Everyone does it. It's human nature to try and find patterns in things where there aren't. That's why we see shapes in clouds and believe fortune tellers who claim to be able to see into our lives," Julie Farkas explained to him once when Ghost complained about how nearly everyone in Freeside had been embarassingly easily duped by traveling "seer" who was making a very comfortable living from them.

People fit things to match themselves, their perception, and their lives. It annoyed Ghost when it happened and people skewed things around so much that the original meaning was completely lost.

Original meaning complete lo-

Oh.

Ghost bolts up off the couch.

Oh no.

"Everyone does it," Julie's voice echoed in his head.

Oh no no no no no.

He marks the holotape off as unuseful and haphazardly tosses it into a box with the others, and hurriedly drags the heavy box to Doctor Usanagi's office.

"HereImarkedalltheusefulonestherestaren'tdon'tlistentotheonewiththebigXonitit'skindofhorrifictohearI'msorrybutIhavetogonow," Ghost blurts out in one breath, and Dr. Usanagi (bless her) just takes the box and nods. Ghost is off in a hurry, slamming open the door of the clinic with his shoulder and gone in an instant.

Dr. Usanagi watches Ghost leave in amusement, wondering what epiphany he's had this time around.


End file.
